1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to beverage containers, and in particular, to a beverage container having a tightly sealed lid that allows the beverage container to hold hot liquids and to effectively retain the heat in such liquids, while allowing a user to drink from the beverage container without removing the lid.
2. Description Of The Related Art
A "thermos", or thermoflask, is a beverage container that is commonly used to store hot beverages. The thermos is provided with an insulating wall and a tightly-sealed lid that together are effective in keeping the beverage warm. The thermos is popular because hot beverages such as hot water, hot soup, or hot coffee can be stored in the thermos for extended periods of time without the hot beverage losing much of its warmth or heat. As a result, hot beverages can be effectively carried from the home to different locations, such as to a picnic, to the office, or to a hospital, for example.
These thermos are typically provided with a tightly sealed lid. The lid typically includes a plurality of threads provided on its outer circumferential surface which are adapted to engage corresponding threads provided along the inner circumference of the mouth of the thermos. To drink, or to pour, the beverage contained in the thermos, the user must either completely remove the lid from the mouth of the thermos, or loosen the threaded engagement between the mouth and the lid by unscrewing or unthreading the lid by a couple of revolutions.
Unfortunately, complete removal of the lid results in certain drawbacks. First, complete removal of the lid results in inconvenience to the user, who must either find a clean surface on which to rest the top of the lid, or must use one hand to hold the lid, while the user is either drinking from the thermos or pouring the beverage from the thermos. This is especially inconvenient when the user is attempting to pour the beverage into a cup, glass or bowl, since the user will usually need to use one hand to grip the thermos and the other hand to grip the cup, glass or bowl.
Second, if the user desires to rest a completely-removed lid on a surface, the user must be careful to find a clean surface. In addition, the user must be careful to rest the top, and not the bottom, of the lid on the surface. Otherwise, the bottom of the lid may contact dirt or other undesirable particles, which may contaminate the remaining beverage in the thermos when the lid is subsequently secured to the mouth of the thermos. In this regard, the bottom of the lid is typically very hot from its contact and exposure to the hot beverage contained inside the thermos, and this will make it more difficult for the user to carefully handle the completely-removed lid.
Third, spillage can be a problem when the user attempts to pour hot beverage through the completely-opened mouth. Spillage of hot liquids can cause physical harm to or scald the user.
Fourth, by completely removing the lid, the hot beverage contained inside the thermos will be exposed to the outside environment, often causing heat to dissipate quickly, thereby causing the hot beverage to cool.
Instead of completely removing the lid, the user can also loosen the threaded engagement between the mouth and the lid. However, this alternative also suffers from certain drawbacks. By loosening the threaded engagement between the mouth and the lid, the position of the lid will be raised with respect to the mouth, so that a small annular gap will be provided between the bottom of the lid and the inner circumference of the mouth of the thermos. The beverage contained inside the thermos can then flow through the annular gap. Unfortunately, the annular nature of the gap means that the outflow of the beverage is not controlled, so that the outflowing beverage may be difficult to pour or drink. To address this problem, many thermos have provided an annular ledge at the top of the mouth that leads to a spout, so as to guide the outflowing beverage towards the spout.
One drawback with a spouted thermos is that it is difficult to drink from a spout. Therefore, the beverage inside these spouted thermos must first be poured into a cup, mug, glass, bowl or other drinking container before the user can drink the beverage. This adds significant inconvenience to the user, since the user must now provide a separate drinking container in addition to the thermos.
Thus, there remains a need for a beverage container that can effectively retain hot beverages in a manner which reduces the amount of heat that is dissipated, that provides a tight seal to prevent fluid or heat loss, and that provides controlled fluid flow which allows the user to drink from the beverage container while minimizing spillage of the beverage.